Buffalo River Restoration - Habitat Restoration/Dredging Updates
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March 2015 Update: Habitat restoration project to commence in spring/summer of 2015.
December 2014 Update: Dredging season completed with dredging and capping activities completed. Some additional work will be completed in 2015.
August 4, 2014 Update: A public notice from USEPA requesting comments about a proposed cleanup of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from the Buffalo River is available through August 25, 2014. Please see the notice for details: http://www.dec.ny.gov/data/der/factsheet/brpcbcleanup.pdf.
June 18, 2014 Dredging Update: Two dredges are operating, one dredge working in DMUs 29, 30, and 31 and the other working in DMU 16. **Click Dredging Map #2 for a closer look at the locations.
June 16 Dredging Update: the final phase of environmental dredging begins!
2013 Safety Record: 18,500 total work hours with zero incidents (first aid or recordable)
As of December 16, 2013: the Buffalo River Great Lakes Legacy Act project has suspended dredging operations for the winter. Here are some project highlights:
- Over this construction season we dredged approximately 110,506 cubic yards from the Buffalo River (69,670 cy) and City Ship Canal (40,836 cy), which is approximately 24% of the estimated 462,000 cy total dredge volume.
- Dredging operations are complete at DMUs 1 - 3, 4a, 5, 6a, 6b, 7a, 8a, 8c, and 11 - 15.
- Offloading operations at the Confined Disposal Facility went as planned.
- River monitoring indicated dredging did not significantly impact water quality.
- Dredging will begin again on June 15, 2014, which complies with the environmental window for dredging on the river. We anticipate the remaining dredging effort will take until the end of 2014 to complete.
- Dredging in 2014 includes the TSCA hotspot (sediment with concentrations >50ppm PCBs).
- We anticipate capping and habitat restoration activities will begin in late summer or early fall 2014 and will continue into 2015.
December 2 Dredging Update: We have dredged approximately 88,000 cubic yards. We are currently dredging DMU-5 in the City Ship Canal. Click Dredging Map #1 for a closer look at the location.
Dredging barge in DMU 14 located along the Buffalo Color site
with Downtown Buffalo in the background
November 18 Dredging Update: We have dredged 47,455 cubic yards to date. The tentative plan is to move to DMU-15 next, and then DMU-8c. Water sampling results indicate that dredging is not significantly impacting water quality.
November 14 Dredging Update: Dredging in DMU-14, view Dredging Map #2 for a closer view.
October 31 Dredging Update: We are currently dredging in DMU-12.
October 24 Dredging Update: Dredging began on October 10th, with approximately 9,000 cubic yards removed from the river to date. Operations are going as planned with the sediment and debris going to the CDF for disposal.
